Lopez Brightens Lpga Showcase

INSIDE GOLF

Beginning Thursday, the LPGA finally welcomes the long-overdue addition of a season-ending plum for its top players with the $700,000 ITT LPGA Tour Championship in Las Vegas.

It is only fitting that Nancy Lopez is in the inaugural field as one of the tour's top 30 money winners. Across the board, the game has not known a classier or more fan-friendly champion.

Difficult as this may be to believe, Lopez will be turning 40 in less than two months. Not to sound like an old sage, but was it really is almost 20 years ago that Lopez was seizing the entire sports world with her brilliant game and her radiant smile, winning nine times in her unforgettable rookie season? The passage of time is something Lopez can't sort out herself.

''I have to figure this out as I go along,'' Lopez said. ''I'm feeling old. I want to stay playing with the big girls. It's funny, but when I was 19 I never thought I'd be saying that.''

She laughed at the irony. For Lopez, the proper recipe of being a full-time mother and professional athlete is a delicate one at best. With three young daughters (ages 5-13) at home in Georgia and a husband (Ray Knight) who possesses a time-consuming job as manager of baseball's Cincinnati Reds, Lopez could walk away from the game and still have plenty to keep her busy. But walking away from golf is something she is not yet ready - or willing - to do.

''I struggle every day when I think about playing on the tour,'' Lopez said. ''I still love competing so much . . . (but) I have family commitments that are important. If I'm not there watching my children when they dance, it kills me.''

In 17 events in 1996, Lopez has earned $202,451, ranking 28th on the LPGA's money list. She hasn't won since 1993, but there were times this season when she knocked on the door. Lopez had a runner-up finish to Laura Davies at the du Maurier Classic, one of the LPGA's four majors. She relished feeling the many emotions of being in the thick of a big tournament down the stretch. It had been a while.

''I would like to win a couple more times before I decide I can't do it anymore,'' said Lopez, whose 47 tour victories already have enshrined her in the LPGA's Hall of Fame. ''I got close a couple of times and I really, truly felt I could win. I know I still have it. I just have to find it. I really had those old feelings. I had the focus I had years ago.''

A vigorous workout regimen that begins at 9 p.m. most nights, after the kids are tucked in bed, has helped Lopez lose 40 pounds in the past year, and she says it keeps her muscles loose on the days she is unable to practice. Come January, she'll be back in Florida for the start of yet another LPGA season. As appreciative as Lopez will be to be there, golf fans should be equally thankful, if not more so. It's been a genuine treat.

The United States will try to extend its four-year reign in the 42nd World Cup of Golf beginning Thursday at the Erinvale Golf Club in Cape Town, South Africa. Tom Lehman and Steve Jones will be representing the U.S. after Davis Love III and Fred Couples did so four times successfully since 1992. . . . Emilee Klein, a two-time LPGA tournament champion this season, has purchased a golf villa at Lake Nona Club, making Orlando home to four of the brightest young stars in the game: Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Karrie Webb and Klein.

The PGA Tour named Couples and Isleworth's Mark O'Meara co-winners in the season-ending, greens-in-regulation category, both finishing at 71.8 percent, initially forgetting to honor its own rule by breaking any ties in year-end categories. But upon further review (and a little additional math), O'Meara was declared the winner - .71783 to Couples' .71774. . . . A few spots remain for the 14th West Orange Invitational at West Orange Country Club, a 54-hole championship that will begin Friday. Details: (407) 656-1914. . . . Kudos to all those who participated in Women Playing for T.I.M.E. at Lake Nona last month. Events that culminated in a golf and tennis tournament raised $312,000 for breast cancer programs at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Orlando. . . . Apopka's Jackie McBride captured low gross at the Sunshine State Senior Women's Golf Association Championship at Ponce de Leon Resort, with fellow Apopkan Elizabeth Collins winning low net. . . . Laura Davies apparently isn't much for working overtime. Her loss to Mayumi Hirase at the Toray Japans Queens Cup left her 0-6 in playoffs.